Day-date calendar timepiece



April 22, 1969 w, w, MUTTER ET AL 3,439,493, DAY-DATE CALENDAR TIMEPIECEFiled Jan. 10 mar Sheet or s l v INVIZNTORJ.

exam/5x 7 Aprii 22, 1969 w, w, MUT ER ET AL 3,439,493

DAY-DATE CALENDAR'TIMEPIECE I Filed Jan. 10, 1967 Sheet 2 of a UnitedStates Patent 3,439,493 DAY-DATE CALENDAR TIMEPIECE William W. Mutter,Paramus, N.J., and George P. Gruner, Floral Park, N.Y., assignors toBulova Watch Company, Inc., New York, N.Y., a corporation of New YorkFiled Jan. 10, 1967, Ser. No. 608,333 Int. Cl. G04b 19/24 US. Cl. 58-589 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A time piece for indicating the dayof the week and the date of the month as well as the time, the timepieceincluding concentrically disposed date and day rings each having aninner toothing. Automatic and concurrent daily actuation of these ringsis eifected by a mechanism including a trip arm which, when triggered,engages a tooth on the date ring and a tooth on the day ring to indexthese rings.

This invention relates generally to calendar timepieces having day anddate indicators, and more particularly to an automatic mechanism forinstantaneously indexing the date indicator and the day indicatorsimultaneously once a day, the mechanism including a manually-operatedsetting device to advance the date indicator relative to the dayindicator without disturbing the time indications of the timepiece.

In a conventional calendar watch or clock, it is known to include arotatable date indicator ring having numbers 1 to 31 imprinted thereonin a circular path, one date at a time being visible through a window inthe dial face. This ring is driven from an actuating mechanism operatedthrough the hour wheel of the timepiece and adapted to cause the ring tojump one date per twenty-four hour interval.

Since some months of the year have less than thirtyone days it isnecessary at the end of such months to advance the ring in order to skipover the excess number or numbers, thereby presenting number 1 on thefirst day of the next month. Normally this correction is effectedmanually by means of the setting crown which is first pulled out toengage a setting wheel for the time-indicating hands. The crown is thenturned to actuate the date advancing mechanism.

Procedures for accomplishing date indication correction may vary,depending on the particular design of the calendar mechanism system.However, conventional systems usually upset the time-of-day indicationto change the date indication. Consequently, after the calendarcorrection is made, it then becomes necessary to reset thetime-indicating hands.

In the copending application of Bennett et al., Ser. No. 538,840, filedMar. 30, 1966, there is disclosed an actuating mechanism for a dateindicator in a calendar timepiece, which mechanism not only actsautomatically to advance the indicator one date' per twenty-four hours,but is also capable of being manually corrected without disturbing thesettings of the time-indicating hands. The timepiece includes amanually-operated setting device which is operatively coupled to thesetting crown, correction being eifected without the need to pull outthe crown or otherwise shift the axial position of the setting stem. Toadvance the date manually, the setting crown, while in its normal or inposition, is turned in the clockwise direction until the proper date isindicated.

While a timepiece with a date indicator displays in numerical form thedate of the month, it does not name the day of the week. The addition ofa day indicator is therefore desirable, but this cannot be accomplishedsimply by gearing a day indicator to the date indicator. The

days and dates, from month to month, in a calendar are not consistent,for though every week has seven days, the number of days in a monthvaries in the course of a year. Thus, in 1967, the first day of Januaryfalls on a Sunday, whereas the first day in February is a Wednesday.Hence, it is necessary that the manually-operated setting device becapable of correcting the date indicator relative to the day indicatorso that at the first of each month, the day position is appropriatethereto.

Accordingly, it is the main object of this invention to provide aday-date calendar for a timepiece in conjunction with amanually-operated setting device adapted to advance the date indicatorrelative to the day indicator without upsetting the position of thetime-indicating hands, and an actuating mechanism for automatically andconcurrently advancing the day and date indicators one step each day atmidnight.

More specifically, it is an object of the invention to provide atimepiece having concentrically disposed date and day rings each havingan inner toothing, automatic and concurrent daily actuation of theserings being effected by a mechanism including a trip arm which, whentriggered, engages a tooth on the date ring and a tooth on the day ringto index these rings.

Also an object of the invention is to provide a daydate calendartimepiece which operates reliably and efiiciently and is of simple andrugged design, the actuating mechanism entailing relatively fewcomponents and being triggered each day at approximately midnightinstantaneously to advance the date ring one number and the day ring oneday.

Briefly stated, these objects are accomplished by a timepiece having adate-indicating ring having an inner toothing and a day-indicating ringalso have an inner toothing, the day ring being disposed concentricallyabove the date ring. Manual setting of the date ring relative to the dayring is efiected by a corrector finger projecting from theaxially-shiftable crown stem of the timepiece such that when the crownis at its in or running position and is manually turned, the fingerengages the inner toothing on the date ring to cause this ring toadvance one date for each revolution of the crown, without, however,afiecting the position of the day ring, and without disturbing thetime-indicating hands which are adjustable only when the stem is at anout position.

Automatic daily actuation of the day and date rings is eifected by aspring-biased trip arm having a depressed pilot formed as part of thearm and received within a slot in the pillar plate of the timepiece,whereby the arm is slidable in a path determined by the confines of theslot from a cocked or charged position to a discharged position. Thetrip arm includes a nose projecting laterally therefrom and a trip pinprojecting upwardly therefrom, such that when the trip arm is fired andtravels from the cocked to the discharged position its nose is adaptedto engage a tooth on the date ring and its trip pin is adapted to engagea tooth on the day ring, thereby indexing both rings simultaneously.

Disposed within a contoured opening in the trip arm is a trip fingerwhich is mounted on a trip wheel intermeshing with the hour-wheel of thetimepiece, causing the trip finger to undergo a full cycle per day, thefinger acting during its rotary cycle to cause the trip arm to move fromits discharged position toward its cocked position, in the course ofwhich movement the nose is retracted from the toothing of the date ringwhile the trip pin is retracted from the toothing of the day ring. Atmidnight of each day, the trip finger releases the spring-biased triparm, whereby the fixed arm is abruptly urged toward the dischargedposition and the nose and trip pin thereon make contact with theirassociated rings to advance same one step.

For a better understanding of the invention, as well as other objectsand further features thereof, reference is made to the followingdetailed description to be read in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawing, wherein like elements in the several views are identified bylike reference numerals:

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing the essential componentsof a day-date calendar timepiece in accordance with the invention, andthe manual setting and automatic actuating mechanisms therefor;

FIG. 2 is plan view showing the cocked position of the trigger device ofthe actuating mechanism at about 11:59 p.n1., with respect to the datering, when it is ready to trip;

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing the trigger device at midnight shortlyafter it has tripped, the trigger device being in its dischargedposition;

FIG. 4 shows in plan view the position of the trigger device at about3:00 p.m.;

FIG. 5 shows in plan view the position of the trigger device at about7:00 p.m.;

FIG. 6 shows in plan view the position of the trigger device at about11:00 p.m.;

FIG. 7 illustrates in plan view the action of the trip pin on the dayring;

FIG. 8 is a plan view showing the assembled day-date structure; and

FIG. 9 illustrates the face of a watch having a daydate display asproduced by the invention.

Structure of day-date calendar mechanism The actuating mechanism for acalendar timepiece in accordance with the invention is constituted by atrigger arrangement which automatically indexes a date ring and a dayring once every twenty-four hours, and a manual setting device whichoperates independently of the trigger to advance only the date ring uponturning of the setting crown of the timepiece when the crown is in itsrunning or in position.

The watchworks are contained in a casing 10', the timesetting mechanismtherefor including a stern assembly having a stem 11 whose upper endextends through an opening in casing 10 and terminates in a crown 12.The timesetting mechanism forms no part of the present invention;however, some of the parts thereof appear in the environment of thepresent invention, and these parts will therefore be described.

Mounted on a square section of the round stem 11 is clutch wheel 13,which is free to slide but not to rotate there'onJWheel 13 is caused byclutch lever 14, which extends through an annular groove in the clutchwheel, to engage a setting wheel when the stem is fully retracted by itscrown to the pull-out or time-setting position. The setting wheel (noshown) intermeshes with the minute wheel (not shown) of the timepiecesuch that when the crown is rotated with the stem retracted to thetime-setting position, the minute wheel turns, thereby setting theminute and hour hands in the usual manner. The hour wheel 15 makes onerevolution per twelve-hour period. Hour wheel 15 drives the automatictrigger device for actuating the calendar.

The date indicator is constituted by a flat ring 16 whose innerperiphery has a series of thirty-one teeth 17 formed thereon, each toothbeing associated with a date imprinted or inscribed on the face of thering. Ring 16 is mounted for rotary motion on a pillar plate PP withinthe casing below the dial plate. The dial plate D, as shown in FIG. 9,has a window W therein to expose a single date number at a time and awindow W to expose a single day at a time. Thus as the date ring isadvanced, the number 1 to 31 appear in sequence and as the day ring isadvanced the days Monday to Sunday appear in sequence.

The manual setting device for the date ring 16 is constituted by acollar 18 freely mounted on stem 11 and provided with a projectingfinger 19 which is adapted to engage th teeth 17 on he ring to effectcorrec ion of its position. Collar 18 is provided with ratchet teeth 18a adapted to engage mating teeth 18b on the clutch wheel 13, thetoothed elements engaging each other only in the in position of thestern, and the ratchet teeth being so disposed that collar 18 is turnedwhen stem 11 is rotated in the clockwise direction. The arrangement issuch that should finger 19 happen to be in the path of a tooth 17 on thering when automatic date advance takes place, in the manner to bedescribed hereinafter, the finger will be kicked out of the way.

Turning the crown in the clockwise direction when the stem is in the inposition causes the corrector finger 19 to engage one tooth 17 for eachfull rotation of the stem, thereby advancing the ring one date at atime, the detented position of the date ring being maintained by apivoted detent 20 which engages the teeth 17 of the ring and is urgedthereagainst by a spring 21. When the crown is pulled out, the clutchelements 18a and 18b are disengaged, since clutch wheel 18 is thencaused to slide along stem 11 to engage the setting wheel. Hencerotation of the stem for purposes of setting the time-indicating handscannot cause the manual setting device to advance the date indicator.

To resist free turning of the crown for a portion of each revolution,thereby preventing accidental advance of the date indication, a flatspring detent 22 is provided, the tip of this member engaging thecorrector finger 19 and acting to prevent rotation of the stem until thespring force of this detent is overcome by the finger. Thus beforefinger 19 is permitted to engage a tooth on the calendar ring, it mustfirst snap the detent spring 22. This introduces a hard turn portion inthe stem revolution. In practice, when setting the date, one stopsturning the crown after reaching the proper date indication and beforereaching the hard-turn portion of a revolution.

The automatic trigger arrangement for the calendar rings includes a tripwheel 23 which intermeshes with the hour wheel 15 of the timepiece andmakes one full revolution per twenty-four hours. Mounted on top of tripwheel 23 and rotating therewith about a common axis is a trip finger 24which forms in the counterclockwise direction within an opening 25formed within a trip arm 26.

As best seen in FIGS. 2 to 6, the opening 25 has a generallysemi-circular configuration, the contours of the opening relative tothat of trip finger 24 therein being such that the finger never engagesthe semi-circular wall portion 25a in the course of rotation, but doesmake contact with a somewhat convex wall portion 25b and ashoulder-forming projection 250, a notch 25d being situated at thejunction of the projection and the convex portion.

The lower portion of trip arm 26 is provided with a depressed pilot 31which is received within a slot 27 formed in pillar plate PP, such thatthe trip arm is shiftable back and forthwithin the limits of the slotand is rotatable about pilot 31. A bay portion 27A is provided at theupper limit of slot 27 which is not sufficiently wide to permit passageof pilot 31, but which affords clearance for the inclined connectingportion 26A between the body of the trip arm and the pilot. A nose 28projects laterally from one side of the trip arm, which nose when thearm is fired engages a tooth of date ring 16 to advance same.

A bumper 29 is secured to pillar plate PP and makes contact with a camportion 32 on the upper edge of the trip arm when the arm is in itsdischarged position. Projecting from the lower edge of trip arm 26 is aleg 33 engaged by a trip spring 30 which is tensioned to urge the armtoward bumper 29, the position of the arm being caused to vary as tripfinger 24 rotates.

Received within date ring 16 above the inner teeth thereof is a circularbridge member 34 which is secured to the pillar plate PP by screws 35and 36. The bridge includes a central opening 37 to admit the shaft 38of hour wheel 15 which carries the hour hand on the dial of the watch.Surrounding central opening 37 on the bridge is a raised hub 39, the hubhaving a recess 40 to provide a chamber for elements associated with adayring 41 which rotates about the hub.

Day-ring 41 is provided with inner toothing 42, fourteen teeth beingprovided, corresponding to two seven day series, so that Monday throughSunday appear twice on the surface of the ring in a circumferentialarrangement about the teeth. The day ring is actuated by means of a trippin 43 attached to the trip arm 26 at a position thereon adjacent notch25d and projecting upwardly therefrom through an opening 44 in thebridge to engage the teeth on the day ring. Associated with the teeth onthe day ring is a detent 45 which is biased against the teeth by aspring 46, these elements being positioned within recess 40.

As will be explained in greater detail in the section to follow, theposition of the rotating trip finger 24, shortly before midnight, issuch as to place the spring-biased trip arm 26 in its cocked or armedposition. A moment thereafter, the trip arm 26 is released by the fingerand fires. Nose 28 is thereby caused to engage and push a tooth on datering 16 to advance the ring one date, and at the same time trip pin 43is caused to engage and push a tooth on day ring 41 to advance same oneday, after which the trip arm, which now abuts bumper 29, occupies itsdischarged position. Trip finger then proceeds, after midnight, toundergo its next cycle of operation.

Operation of calendar date actuating mechanism Referring now to FIG. 2,there is shown the position of trip finger 24 in a position wherein thetrip arm 26 is armed and is just about to be triggered. This occursshortly before midnight, say at 11:59 p.m., just before the date is tobe changed. In this position, the tip of finger 24 is at the peak ofprojection 25C and is about to leave notch 25d.

The finger in notch 25d acts against the force of spring 30 to push triparm 26 to its cocked position in which the pilot 31 on the trip arm isadjacent the lower limit of slot 27 in the pillar plate. Also in thisposition the arm is at its maximum displacement from bumper 29. It willbe noted that the nose 28 of the trip arm 26 lies in the space betweenthe ring teeth 17A and 17B, the nose being close to tooth 17A. I

When trip finger 24 rotates further in the counterclockwise direction,it exits from notch 25d, as a consequence of which trip arm 26 issuddenly released to fire, and the arm, under the action of spring 30,slides abruptly toward bumper 29. In doing so, nose 28 is caused toengage tooth 17B on the ring to advance the date ring one date number.The action of the pin 43 will be discussed later.

When trip arm 26 is triggered, the force of nose 28 on I the particulardate ring tooth engaged thereby may be so great as to cause the nexttooth in the advancing ring to strike the rear of the nose. Bumper 29not only limits the displacement of the trip arm but it also functionsto prevent a rotation thereof when the trip arm is triggered and a toothon the calendar ring strikes the rear of nose 28. Bumper 29 also servesanother purpose, for when rotating finger 24 presses against the convexwall portion 25b of the opening and the cam portion 32 of the trip armabuts the bumper, as will be described in greater detail in connectionwith FIG. 4, this causes the trip arm to slide against the action ofspring 30 as well as to swing about pilot 31, whereby these sliding androtating motions of the arm are concurrent.

The discharged condition of the trigger mechanism is shown in FIG. 3,where it will be seen that the cam portion 32 of the trip arm now liesagainst bumper 29, pilot 31 now being adjacent the upper limit of slot27, the projection 250 in opening 25 being banked against the side oftrip finger 24. This is the posture assumed by the elements at twelvemidnight.

Referring now to FIG. 4, there is shown the relative position of thevarious elements at about 3:00 pm. The trip finger 24 has in the periodrunning from 12 midnight to 3 :00 p.m., traversed the semi-circular pathadjacent the portion 25a of the opening, during which time trip arm 26remains at its discharged position against bumper 29 until the convexportion 25b is engaged or until the manual connector is used. As thetrip finger pushes against this convex portion, it causes trip arm 26 towithdraw nose 28 from between the teeth on the ring. In this action, camportion 32 of the arm riding against the bumper, causes the arm to slideaaginst spring 30 while the arm at the same time is caused by the fingerto swing about pilot 31, thereby retracting the nose.

When the tip 24a of trip finger 24 enters notch 25d at 7:00 p.m., asshown in FIG. 5, it pushes against projection 25c and causes trip arm 26to slide away from the bumper, the sliding movement being guided by slot27. This continues until about 11:00 p.m., as shown in FIG. 6, whereinthe trip arm now has reached its maximum displacement from the bumperand is cooked. Between 11:00 p.m. and 11:59 pm, as shown in FIG. 6, thetrip finger proceeds to move out of notch 25a, during which time thecooked position of the trip arm remains unchanged, until suddenly whenthe finger is free from the shoulder, the trip arm is abruptly releasedto advance the calendar ring in the manner described previously.

Operation of day actuating mechanism As indicated by the arrows in FIG.7, pin 43 projecting upwardly from trip arm 26 is caused to travel agenerally triangular path in the course of an operating cycle. The pathis correlated with the movement of stop arm 26, as illustrated in FIGS.2 to 6.

Thus when trip arm 26 is cocked or armed, as shown in FIG. 2, pin 43lies within the gap between adjacent teeth 42A and 42B and occupies acorner X in the triangle. When trip arm 26 is fired, nose 28 advancesthe date ring, while pin 43 abruptly shifts from corner X to corner Y inthe triangle simultaneously to advance day ring 41 one step. The extentof advance corresponds to the effective length of slot 27 in the pillarplate, for it will be seen that pilot 31 is positioned adjacent thelower limit of slot 27 (FIG. 2) in the armed condition, and afterdischarge (FIG. 3), it lies adjacent the upper limit, with cam surface32 of the trip arm abutting bumper 29. This firing action takes place amoment before midnight.

As a new cycle of operation is undertaken (FIGS. 4, 5 and 6), trip arm26 is caused by finger 24 to swing about pilot 31 and to slide away frombumper 29, thus causing withdrawal of nose 28, the pin 43 being thencaused to occupy a fully retracted position at corner Z, after which thenose proceeds to enter the next tooth position on the date ring, pin 43concurrently assuming its next cocked position at corner X within theteeth of the day ring.

There are certain kinematic and mechanical advantages obtained by thepresent invention as compared to the trip arm arrangement described inthe above-identified copending application Ser. No. 538,840, which meritfurther consideration.

In the copending application, the trip arm swings and slides withreference to a fixed guide pin mounted on the pillar plate, the pinbeing received within a slot formed in the trip arm. Incontradistinction, in the present invention, a slot 27 is formed in thepillar plate, and the trip arm 26 is provided with a depressed pilot 31which is received within this slot whereby the trip arm is capable ofshifting or rotating within the limits imposed by the slot.

Because in the previous arrangement, the guide pin represents a fixedpivot point on the pillar plate, there is 7 considerable sliding actionbetween the trip spring and the trip arm during the arming portion ofthe cycle. This slide gives rise to a frictional force normal to thatapplied by the force of the spring which is directed toward the triparm, thereby acting at some moment arm from the pivot point. Thisresults in a counterclockwise moment which tends to reduce the clockwisemoment necessary to provide reliable action by keeping the trip arm andtrip finger in intimate contact in the course of arming.

Moreover, the more the trip arm in the previous arrangement is displacedduring arming, the greater the moment arm and the greater theundesirable counterclockwise movement. Hence, it becomes necessary inthis arrangement to provide a clockwise moment sufficient to more thanovercome the unwanted moment due to the sliding action between the tripspring and the trip arm. This clockwise moment significantly increasesthe friction between the trip arm and trip finger during the firingportion of the cycle, thus cutting down the energy available foradvancing the date mechanism.

In the present arrangement, as best seen in FIG. 8, the unwantedcounterclockwise moment during arming is minimized by placing tripspring 30 as well as its point of contact at leg 33 with trip arm 26,and the trip arm pivot point which is pilot 31, all approximately inline in the armed portion in which pilot 31 occupies the lower level ofslot 27. In this figure, trip arm 26 is at the critical part of thearming cycle when finger 24 is most likely to slip out of notch 25d intrip arm 26 should the resultant of all forces involved not providea-clockwise movement.

This arrangement obviates the need for an increased compensating momentwhich necessarily would be present during the entire cycle, therebyrendering the present arrangement more efficient than the previous fixedguide pin arrangement. As a consequence, the operation of both the dayand date indicators is more reliable without unduly loading thetimepiece.

When the date and day rings lie within the watch casing under the dialD, the selected days and dates are visible to the wearer through anelongated rectangular window W (FIG. 9), aligned with the day ring 41and with the date ring 16.

What we claim is:

1. In a calendar timepiece having hour and minute hands and a rotatablestem assembly adapted in an out position to engage a setting mechanismso that said hands may be set manually, said stem having an in positionin which said hands are disengaged from said setting mechanism, saidtimepiece including a wheel making a single revolution each twenty-fourhour period, the combination comprising:

(A) a rotatable date ring having a series of inner teeth thereon, onetooth for each of the thirty-one numbers appearing on the face of thedate ring,

(B) a rotatable day ring having a series of inner teeth thereon, one foreach day appearing on the face of the day ring, said day ring beingdisposed in a plane parallel to the date ring,

(C) a mechanical setting device for said date ring manually to correctthe setting thereof at the end of those months having less thanthirty-one days without changing the position of the day ring or theindication of the timepiece hands, said device including:

(a) a finger adapted to engage the teeth of said date ring, and

-(b) means intercoupling said finger and said stem only at the inposition thereof whereby rotation of the stem causes said finger to turnsaid date ring, and

(D) an automatic trigger mechanism to advance said date and day ringsone tooth per twenty-four hour period, said trigger mechanism including:

(a) a spring-biased trip arm having means thereon to engage the teeth onthe date ring and means to engage the teeth of the day ring, and

(b) a trip finger operatively coupled to said wheel to shift said arm tocock same against said spring and to release same shortly beforemidnight to cause said nose and said pin to advance their associatedrings one step.

2. In a calendar timepiece as set forth in claim 1, wherein said dayring has fourteen teeth, and has two series of days corresponding tosaid teeth.

3. In a calendar timepiece as set forth in claim 1, wherein said triparm includes a depressed pilot which is received with a slot formed inthe pillar plate whereby said arm is slidable within the limit of theslot and is swingahle about the pilot.

4. In a calendar timepiece having a wheel which makes one revolutioneach twenty-four hour period, a day-date assembly comprising:

(A) a date ring rotatable on a pillar plate and having a series of innerteeth,

(B) a day ring disposed concentrically with respect to the date ring ina plane parallel thereto and having a series of inner teeth,

(C) an automatic trigger mechanism to advance both rings one tooth pertwenty-four hour period, said mechanism comprising:

(a) a spring-biased trip arm having a nose projecting laterallytherefrom to engage the teeth on the date ring and a pin projectingupwardly therefrom to engage the teeth on the day ring, and

(b) a trip finger operatively coupled to said wheel and rotatable in acontoured opening therein to shift said arm to cock same against saidspring and to release same shortly before midnight to cause said noseand said pin to ad vance their associated rings one step.

5. A day-date assembly as set forth in claim 4, wherein said trip armincludes a depressed pilot received within a slot formed in said pillarplate whereby said arm is slidable within the limits of the slot and isswingahle abou said pilot. a

6. A day-date assembly as set forth in claim 5, further including abumper secured relative to said pillar plate to engage a cam surface onsaid trip arm at the upper limit of said slot.

7. A day-date assembly as set forth in claim 5, further including aspring-biased detent engaging the teeth of said date ring.

8. A day-date assembly as set forth in claim 5, further including aspring-biased detent engaging the teeth of said day ring.

9. A day-date assembly as set forth in claim 5, wherein said contouredopening defines a shoulder adapted to receive the tip of said tripfinger.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,985,388 12/1934 Stephens 58-1272,591,819 4/ 1952 Hugenin 5 8-58 3,082,594 3/1963 Stamm et al. 58-58ROBERT S. WARD, JR., Primary Examiner.

L. HAMBLEN, Assistant Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 58-128

